Arcane strike and splash weapon


Rules Questions


Would arcane strike:

Spoiler:
You draw upon your arcane power to enhance your weapons with magical energy.

Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

work with thrown splash weapons?

Spoiler:
A splash weapon is a ranged weapon that breaks on impact, splashing or scattering its contents over its target and nearby creatures or objects. To attack with a splash weapon, make a ranged touch attack against the target. Thrown splash weapons require no weapon proficiency, so you don't take the –4 nonproficiency penalty. A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target. If the target is Large or larger, you choose one of its squares and the splash damage affects creatures within 5 feet of that square. Splash weapons cannot deal precision-based damage (such as sneak attack).

also does an alchemist qualify for this feat?


I wonder the same thing; except not only arcane strike, but virtually any damage boost aside from alchemist's int bonus (hood hope, point blank shot, arcane strike, Inspire Courage bardic performance, etc.)

I've seen the discussion before here, and I think the argument boiled down to if one should assume no, or else follow the statement that implies splash damage is just like rolling a 1 on the damage (as per alchemist bomb description)

Regarding Alchemist's qualification for Arcane Strike, there's been a thread about that too, and I think people leaned towards no. I'd say it's DM's call. While the Alchemist doesn't cast spells per-se, it's looking into things way too literally/deeply. That said, I'm not against saying they don't qualify, just not for a silly reasoning like that.

Grand Lodge

The Alchemist is not an Arcane Spellcaster.

He doesn't count as one for meeting any prerequisite.

This saddens me, as it means the Alchemist cannot create a Homunculus.

Anyone who knows the history behind Alchemy, and the Homunculus, knows they are intertwined within their lore.

Grand Lodge

i cant see any rules that prohibit an Alchemist from attaining a homunculus as they can get a familiar

Additionally i would like to note that when an alchemist uses his Extracts the effects exactly duplicate the spell on which the formula is based on. hence an Arcane spell is still an Arcane spell when Created by an alchemist (as are Divine spells still divine spells)

Grand Lodge

You still need to craft the Homunculus.

An Alchemist cannot do that.

Grand Lodge

Why cant the Alchemist take the requires Feats? they are considered for item creation and meta magic feats to be casters.

Also please note that you don't have to be the one casting the spell in order to create a magical item

Grand Lodge

They cannot take Item Creation or Metamagic feats.

They do not cast spells.

They must UMD to use Scrolls and Wands.

The Alchemist is not a Spellcaster.


blackbloodtroll wrote:
They must UMD to use Scrolls and Wands.

"An alchemist can utilize spell-trigger items if the spell appears on his formuale list, but not spell-completion items (unless he uses Use Magic Device to do so)."

Grand Lodge

I was half right on that part.

Anyways, the point is, they are not spellcasters.

See here.


Take a wizard and call it an alchemist, now your alchemist can make an homunculus. The alchemist class as a whole makes me sad anyway.


Alchemists are specifically noted as being able to use spell trigger items for spells on their list, but not spell completion items. Thus, they can use wands, but not scrolls. Unless this is a new piece of errata.

The only magic items that they can make are potions, due to the Brew Potion feat that is given to them and the rules stipulating that they do not need to meet the prerequisites for the feat.

Alchemy is a Supernatural ability and doesn't make the alchemist a spellcaster, thus they don't meet the requirements for Item Creation, Metamagic, or other feats such as Arcane Strike. You don't have to meet the spell requirements for items other than potions, spell completion items (scrolls), or spell trigger items (wands), but this doesn't preclude the need to be a spellcaster.

My assumption is that the direct hit damage from a splash weapon can be increased by other sources of increasing damage, but the splash effect cannot. I take the Alchemist's Bomb ability to be a case of specific defeating general, in this case, the Bomb ability is specifically noting changes to the default rules of splash weapons.

Edit: Ninja'd. Sweet. :)

Grand Lodge

Actually, that is really my only disappointment in the class.

If they put a "Craft Construct" Discovery there, I would be satisfied.

I love the Alchemist.


Agreed. I love the Alchemist as well. I wish there was more creation goodness there, but then again, I wish that alchemical items got a bit more love, too. Just a bit, though.


can't you take the master craftsman feat to do all of that ?

Grand Lodge

There is a slew of them.

Look here, and here.

Grand Lodge

AnnoyingOrange wrote:
can't you take the master craftsman feat to do all of that ?

That's not exactly how that feat works.

See here.


blackbloodtroll wrote:
AnnoyingOrange wrote:
can't you take the master craftsman feat to do all of that ?

That's not exactly how that feat works.

See here.

yep, guess not, I do not use the craft feats in my games and I do not see an issue with allowing an alchemist creating a homunculus, but yea well homebrew.. doesn't work for everyone. Thanks for the link I was admittedly too lazy to look it up ^^


Thanks for the replys, and sorry for being lazy and not looking up the thread that dealt with this. I guess I'm going to have to choose another feat then.

Liberty's Edge

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I was half right on that part.

Anyways, the point is, they are not spellcasters.

See here.

Funny they took that stance considering verbiage in one of the abilities says they imbue the potion with some of their magic.


Yure wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:

I was half right on that part.

Anyways, the point is, they are not spellcasters.

See here.

Funny they took that stance considering verbiage in one of the abilities says they imbue the potion with some of their magic.

This is a 5 year old thread and the alchemist question has been rendered moot.

Want them to craft ? House rule it as an extract, it's not unbalanced. (well, it's not unbalanced in the same way that it's considered balanced for wizards to take it)

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